The growth of wireless communications has ushered in a wide range of portable and mobile communications applications. Typically, such applications involve the use of at least one mobile communication device having a depletable power source (e.g., a battery). As can be appreciated, battery powered devices can only be used for a limited time period before battery recharge or battery replacement is required. Often, a user will be in a situation where battery recharge or replacement is not possible and the user will therefore be cut off from communication when the battery dies. To alleviate this problem, power management processes have been developed to better control the consumption of power within such devices during normal operation and thus extend battery life. However, many current power management techniques are limited in their ability to effectively reduce power consumption. Thus, there is a general need for new structures and techniques for implementing power management in wireless systems.